


Our love will light the way

by AngstyAndGay



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ash Lynx Loves Okumura Eiji, Ash Lynx and Okumura Eiji Go to Japan, Ash Lynx and Okumura Eiji in Love, Ash gets the help he needs, AshEijiSecretSanta2020, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Cuddling, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28477677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngstyAndGay/pseuds/AngstyAndGay
Summary: Ash and Eiji spend their very first Christmas together after moving to Japan. Needless to say, Ash couldn‘t be happier that he got to celebrate Christmas with the one he loved the most.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Kudos: 18





	Our love will light the way

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, Nukanjii - surprise, I‘m your Secret Santa! I really hope you had a nice Christmas and that you‘ll enjoy your present! 
> 
> I had a lot of fun participating in the Secret Santa event, writing all this fluff was truly a pleasure!

This would be the very first Christmas in years that Ash would actually be able to enjoy. Up to this day, something had always managed to get in the way - one year, it was his father being horrible and the other year, it hadn‘t been possible for him to truly celebrate due to either his mental health being so bad that he could barely function or because he‘d be forced to spend the day with Dino, which in itself was a curse. He had been nothing more than an accessory to this man - a pretty thing he could show off to others, who would then gaze at Ash with jealousy in their eyes. It had always made Ash uncomfortable...well, uncomfortable was an understatement. It was more like a „sick to his stomach“-feeling he got from all that dehumanizing treatment.

But this year...this year it would be different. Last year, he had spent Christmas in hospital since the stab wound had needed some treatment. He had truly been lucky that a librarian had noticed his wound after he had dragged himself to the public library in New York. Back then, he had been ready to die, however, looking back at it, he was relieved that this hadn‘t been his last day on Earth. After all, if he had died, he wouldn‘t be able to spend the day with Eiji now.

And this year, Ash was sure that Christmas would be better than all of the last Christmas days combined because this year, he had Eiji. After getting out of the hospital, Ash had booked a flight to Japan to follow Eiji like it had been intended to go just before the stabbing incident had happened. Surviving that day had kind of opened his eyes in a way since it had helped him realize that he needed to get away from that environment or else he wouldn‘t be able to recover. However, now that he was in Japan together with Eiji, he could finally start his journey to recovery. They had found an English-speaking therapist for him too who managed to help him a little with the PTSD he had gotten from the years filled with assaults, violence and death. All in all, things were a lot better now than they had been just a year ago.

This also showed during the month of December since he now wasn‘t dreading the days leading up to Christmas, no. Eiji was keeping him busy so that he didn‘t have much time to overthink and make himself get anxious. They had decorated the small apartment they had bought together and they had gotten a nice tree as well, which they decorated with gold and red ornaments. Listening to lots of Christmas music had been a mandatory thing for the two of them as well - especially while baking cookies. Well, Eiji had done most of the baking, in all honesty, but Ash had helped lots with dipping them in chocolate or putting frosting on them since he was better at that than he was at baking. He wouldn‘t have wanted to ruin the cookies by accidentally mixing up some ingredients.

As for the presents, Ash had worked hard to earn some money in order to buy a nice gift for his boyfriend. He wanted to show Eiji his gratitude for being in his life...for saving him from his misery. In all this time, Eiji had always been a safe haven for Ash and now he wanted to give something back to him. All throughout October and November, Ash had given tutoring lessons in English. Granted, his Japanese wasn‘t great but he figured that some people would find it better to have a native English-speaker as a tutor. And like this, he was also able to practice some more Japanese with his students as well so this whole idea was a win-win situation. 

When he had saved up enough money, he bought Eiji a polaroid camera and an empty photo album. Most of it was empty at least - Ash had already filled the two front pages. On the first page, he had written a rather sentimental letter to Eiji in which he told him that he loved him and how thankful he was to be with him before saying that he wanted to spend many more years with him, which was why he had bought a photo album since they could gather all their memories in there. Then, on the second page, he had glued in the plane ticket Eiji had given him to go to Japan with some of the pictures Eiji had taken of the two of them together in New York. Some pictures still included Shorter as well, so Ash thought that this was also a great way to remember their best friend. The rest of the pages would be for Eiji to decorate - Ash would definitely help if he was asked to do so though.

Not to boast about his present too much, but Ash thought it was a rather nice idea, so he couldn‘t wait for Christmas to come around. He was genuinely excited to give his present to Eiji, but he‘d still have to be patient. Thankfully though, the time flew by rather fast since the days before Christmas were rather busy for both Ash and Eiji.

They had visited Eiji‘s family for a few days too to spend some time with them. Eiji‘s sister was happy to have some company again who would build snowmen with her and have some snowball fights, which Ash enjoyed a lot as well since he had never really gotten to be a child, so this was an opportunity for him to be a kid once again.

Ash and Eiji got back in time for the 24th of December, where they prepared a nice Christmas dinner for the two of them. They had settled for a traditionally American main course and a traditionally Japanese dessert, which had tasted amazing, in Ash‘s opinion. After dinner, they had gotten into some more comfortable clothing - both of them were wearing pyjama pants and warm sweaters - before moving onto the couch to cuddle and watch a movie together. It was one of those classical Christmas movies that Ash had never gotten to see before, so now that he was able to enjoy it for the first time, he was quite intrigued. Eiji was also partially watching the movie, however, he was busier peppering Ash‘s neck in soft kisses.

This was another reason for why this year‘s Christmas felt so amazing and special to Ash...now he had Eiji‘s wonderful kisses to accompany him everywhere he went - through both good and bad times. He was fairly sure that he wouldn‘t leave Eiji‘s side ever again. This boy had made him feel at home, protected from all harm. Nobody had ever managed to make him feel this happy and he was grateful for getting the opportunity to be with Eiji. It felt like a blessing to Ash...almost as if whoever had turned his whole life into hell had suddenly started feeling bad for him, which resulted in them letting Ash meet his soulmate.

„What‘s on your mind, Aslan? I can see you‘re not focusing on the movie anymore...is everything okay?“, Eiji asked softly, his brows furrowed in concern as he watched Ash‘s expression change closely. It was a bit overwhelming to have someone care for him in such a sincere, sweet way...especially since Eiji didn‘t expect anything in return from him. Ash would still have to try to get used to that somehow.

He must‘ve looked like he was deep in thought, judging by Eiji‘s reaction - Ash hadn‘t even noticed that he had begun drifting off. To be fair, he never really noticed when he got lost in his thoughts...when he started spiralling. Eiji knew that, which was why he had developed the habit of pulling Ash out of his thoughts as soon as he could to avoid letting Ash overthink. 

„Oh...It‘s okay. I‘m okay, don‘t worry about that...I was just thinking about you. Well...us“, he replied quietly and moved his hand to cup Eiji‘s cheek, letting his thumb brush over the soft skin in a comforting manner as if to silently show his boyfriend that he didn‘t have to worry about him too much. He was grateful for being in Eiji‘s care, yet he still couldn‘t help but feel a bit guilty since he was always making his lover feel concerned in one way or another. Eiji spent so much time being there for Ash - calming him down when he had nightmares, cuddling with him when he felt uneasy, making sure Ash didn‘t drown in bad thoughts by keeping him on his feet. Eiji was always offering support and Ash couldn‘t be more thankful for it.

„Us, huh? What exactly were you thinking of, darling?“, Eiji wanted to know, leaning into Ash‘s touch almost like a small kitten begging for cuddles, which made Ash smile sweetly. He had been smiling a lot more, recently. Eiji truly made him feel happy.

„...Okay, this will be cheesy. Don‘t laugh at me, got it?“, he now said with a small pout, a little blush of embarrassment appearing on his cheeks. Not that he had trouble admitting his feelings to Eiji, but he usually didn‘t say something that was the epitome of cheesiness. Taking a deep breath and looking away from Eiji‘s expectant expression, he opened his mouth again to talk.

„Look...you mean so damn much to me...it feels like being with you is the first time in my life I‘ve ever experienced happiness...celebrating Christmas with you just made it all clearer to me. Just...I never had all of this. I was never really able to do all those things...bake cookies, get a tree, buy presents for my loved ones...fuck, I‘ve never built a snowman before coming here. Being with you made me realize how many things I‘ve missed...and how many things I still want to experience together with you. Up until now, I‘ve never really been able to enjoy life and do the things that everyone does. This...it makes me feel more normal and it kind of reassures me that I‘m away from all the violence now...that I‘m safe. I‘m...I really love you, Eiji...and I‘m so thankful that I got the chance to meet you“, he told his boyfriend in a rather faint voice, sounding almost shy. He could feel Eiji‘s arms tighten around him and when Ash looked back at him, he could easily spot the tears that were slowly filling his eyes.

Had he said something wrong?

„Oh Ash...my Aslan...I love you too...you don‘t even realize how happy you make me by saying that I helped to make you feel safe...I was so scared that I wouldn‘t be able to help you at all. I hate to see you suffer, so I‘ve been excited to watch you get better slowly...you made so much progress already, I‘m really proud of you“, Eiji said with a kind, loving smile. It soothed Ash‘s worries a little - it seemed like those were tears of happiness, after all.

„Thank you for saying that...and thank you for staying with me. I appreciate it a lot...this really is the best Christmas I‘ve ever celebrated, all thanks to you, Eiji…“, he whispered and now leaned in to kiss his boyfriend‘s lips lovingly, moving his hand to rest on the back of Eiji‘s head, where he let his fingers brush through the soft, dark strands.

He couldn‘t even begin to express how much Eiji meant to him and how happy he was to finally celebrate a holiday like Christmas like it was supposed to be celebrated. And hopefully, they‘d be able to celebrate many more Christmas days together. That was Ash‘s biggest wish for the future...he wanted to live for a long time just to spend time with Eiji - to live through more happy times like this. The way there would be hard and they would surely be met with many obstacles to overcome but Ash was sure that he‘d be able to get through it. After all, he had a very special kind of motivation to get better now.

And this motivation was laying right in his arms at this very moment. He could feel Eiji‘s body pressed up against his own so closely that not even a piece of paper would‘ve found space to fit between the two of them, their legs entangled and their arms wrapped around each other tightly. And Ash wouldn‘t have it any other way. He was happy like this...truly happy.

„You know...this is the best Christmas I‘ve ever celebrated for me as well...by far the best Christmas. Having you here makes me feel complete...you‘re my other half, my soulmate...I love you. Merry Christmas, Aslan.“

„Merry Christmas to you too, Eiji...I‘ll always love you.“


End file.
